At this beloved Coral Gables icon, the café is becoming as popular as the books

Food admin August 6, 2026 0 Comments

At this beloved Coral Gables icon, the café is becoming as popular as the books

Summer can be (and has been) a difficult time for restaurants in Miami. With tourists who fled in the spring, ongoing economic uncertainty and the cost of literally everything rising, business can slow to a painful trickle, with the season feeling awfully far away.

But if you’re grabbing a bite at The Café at Books & Books in Coral Gables, you might have to wait for a table.

Get there early, and you can usually grab a spot. The indoor tables fill up quickly, lined up against a wall of photos of the famous authors who have visited the store over the years — Salman Rushdie! Jimmy Carter! Dave Barry! A few small tables have been set up in the events room to accommodate overflow. And even in the heat of summer, you’ll find lunch customers wandering into the outdoor courtyard with laptops or an appetite or both, seeking shade, coffee or a good meal that doesn’t break the budget.

Even general manager Jonah Kaplan is a little startled by the café’s increasing popularity.

“Usually in the summers I have a little break,” he says. “Now we have no downtime, no down season. I have a lot of friends in the restaurant business, and I know how hard it is for them. It’s really unbelievable.”

Since Kaplan, son of Books & Books founder Mitchell Kaplan, took over as general manager in 2022, the café has seen steady growth every year, about a 25 percent increase, he estimates. And instead of taking a backseat to the books and the nightly events that draw readers from all over Miami, the café is not only more integral to the store but also a destination on its own.

Kaplan, 33, who virtually grew up in the book store along with his siblings Daniel and Anya, says Books & Books feels like part of his DNA. This is not an unusual sentiment amongst the readers of Miami: The store, which first opened in 1982 and then at its current location in 2000, exerts a powerful pull on the city as a cultural icon.

But Kaplan, who has long loved to cook, found himself gravitating to the food side of the business. He worked with and learned from chef Papo Santiago, who has been at the café for 26 years. He also took advantage of the store’s collaborative dinners with chef Alan Susser, watching one of Miami’s culinary founders at work.

Kaplan left Miami for Denver during the pandemic and ended up running an independent bookstore and bar in that city. When he returned a couple of years later, he had ideas for change.

“For most of my life the café was an afterthought, kind of an amenity for the book store,” he says. “When I was in Denver I saw the potential for having a community place where you could hang out and have a coffee or co-work, or hang out with your friends for happy hour, a one-stop place that has it all. I came back with that in mind. I really wanted to create that all-day atmosphere.”

Revamping the menu was the first priority. Kaplan added breakfast as an option last year, and this summer, he partnered with Neighborhood Bagels — “the best bagels in Miami,” he says — to improve it further. He also has partnered with Pan Nom bakery for Japanese milk bread for sandwiches.

And while longtime favorites like the curried chicken and the turkey panini remain on the menu, the rest of the choices are new, from the addictive halloumi bites served with guava (”tequenos without the bread,” Kaplan jokes) to a spicy chicken sandwich and grilled mahi with pineapple and couscous.

He changed the dishware and flatware and got rid of the plastic cups. He hired more café staff members who loved books. The changes, along with more live music in the courtyard at night, began to draw a younger crowd.

“We didn’t change the customer base,” he says. “We added a new base. We have the same number of older customers, but we’ve added this young demographic that comes out on the weekends and for other events. That’s really helped us in the café.”

In addition to loving the fact that he’s working with his son, Mitchell Kaplan said that Jonah’s skills have made it integral to the bookstore’s success.

“He’s done a remarkable job in increasing our business and organizing it in a way it hadn’t been before,” he said. “Jonah’s been able to bring his special sauce to the team. He’s a savant when it comes to food, and he loves the notion of bringing people together.”

Bringing the community together, of course, is Books & Books’ primary reason for existing. Mitchell Kaplan has long been a proponent of the concept of the book store as a third place, that special social spot outside of work and home where people can gather and share common interests, whether it’s books and writing or food and music.

“These days, these places become more and more important,” he said. “We’ve always been a diverse city, but we need these places where people can interact one on one in real time. We’re all about community, and you feel that when you walk in to the café.”

Jonah Kaplan agrees about Miami’s need for community gathering places and, more importantly, for Miami to have locally-owned businesses to support instead of encroaching out-of-towners. He has plenty of ideas to highlight the Books & Books brand, because playing a role in the transformation of strong, independent, local businesses is vital to him.

Just like cuisine is.

“I never thought I’d work in the book store,” he admits. “I’m glad there’s a café, so I have my own path that’s different from my dad’s. I love food. I love to create a space where I see people happy, and restaurants are conducive for creating that space. When I walk in, and we’re rocking, it’s great.”